Revolutionizing Education

Twitter for Teachers

Teachers who twitter are called Twitchers. Ok, i made that up, nevermind…on with the post.

One of the giant successes of the internet has been twitter. As a communication tool there are few things that compare.

Twitter was once a mainstay of teenagers and college kids. Twitter has now been taken over by professionals. And teenagers, they left twitter because the adults showed up. (Seriously, they seen what we did to facebook, so they took off to snapchat)

Here’s why you should use twitter.

Twitter is great for professional networking.

Teachers and administrators from all over the world congregate on twitter to have #edchat s. You can use certain #’s in order to group content so it’s searchable. So let’s say you have a question about how to use google slides for your classroom, just ask twitter and include #edtech into your question. Someone, somewhere will pick it up and most likely answer it.

Ed Chats:

At certain times throughout the week educators and professionals meet up on twitter to talk. You have to have the correct hashtags, but anyone can listen or join in.

For example: Thursday nights, 8 pm a curator will start up a series of 5 questions. Teachers from everywhere would answer and discuss those questions using the #edchat. At 8:59 that #edchat would end, at 9 another curator with a different questions on a different # would start up a discussion.

7:30-8:30 am on Saturdays is #satchat. It happens every Saturday!

Using twitter can be a way to build your PLN, (#PLN). That’s Personal Learning Network. Let’s Face it, it’s hard to get an inspired English lesson idea talking to the math nerd across the hall. So branch out. Take teaching away from the isolation it’s been for the last 60 years and make it global. Finding individuals who teach similar content to you, or individuals that inspire you and follow them. (and besides, Twitter makes stalking people waaaaay less creepy than what it used to be.)

Learning and reflection no longer stops when the ed classes end. Your PLN is your plug-in into a wider education world. Besides, all the cool kids have them now.

So, here’s a few things to get you started: 1. Go to twitter.com or download the twitter app and create an account. (So, just like emailing that mom who has the email HotandSexy72@imadethisup.com make sure you choose a good name, it’ll stick with you.) 2. you can add me @PoppaG77

Then follow some non teacher people who you find interesting. For me, i follow a bunch of astronauts who talk about and post photos of life aboard the ISS. I follow a few authors, actors (@hamillhimself), and spoof accounts of characters who make witty comments on the shows they’re supposed to be in.

Then find some teachers and follow them. Teachers who are authors and bloggers are usually pretty active on twitter. Individuals such as @aliceKeeler, @jmattmiller, @gcouros, @svblackhawk, @burgessdave

I should mention. Unlike facebook, they don’t have to follow you back. It’s a one way street. That’s pretty cool.

Now on to the good stuff:

Hashtags (pound signs) # ← those things.

#tlap – Teach like a pirate, Dave Burgess @burgessdave

#satchat

#satchatwc (West coast, for those of you who don’t wake up early on saturday mornings)

#Gafe4littles (google for the very young) Update: 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month

#k2candoo

And of course:

#inspireSVCS

#InspireSVHS

Joining the chats, or reading over the posts from previous #’s is completely ok. You don’t have to participate, just read what others are saying.

A few things, before I leave: One, twitter is short snippets of only 140 characters. So to save space truncated words appear. Ts means Teachers, Ss means Students. It’s not too bad once you get the hang of it, it’s like OMG, ikr!